


Another Place

by zeldadestry



Category: Firefly
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Community: 100_women, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-15
Updated: 2013-05-15
Packaged: 2017-12-11 23:51:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/804684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeldadestry/pseuds/zeldadestry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The bodyguard was new, hired because a business enterprise of Atherton’s had failed and he feared retribution from ruined investors.  His name was Jayne and he was a big man.  She had learned to appreciate his presence at her side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Place

**Author's Note:**

> 077, "apple", for 100_women fanfic challenge  
> story also contains elements of Mal/Zoe and Inara/Mal

Inara didn’t really enjoy shopping anymore. She loved it, once upon a time, when it was about what she could buy for herself with the money she earned, when she was free to buy what she wanted, but, as soon as it became just another aspect of her job, she found it tedious. It still had to be done, of course. Everything had to be done, and to Atherton’s liking, that was part of their arrangement. It had been a mistake to sign the contract, she knew that now. It had been a mistake, but she was still required to stay and to perform to his specifications until the end of the year.

The bodyguard was new, hired because a business enterprise of Atherton’s had failed and he feared retribution from ruined investors. His name was Jayne and he was a big man. She had learned to appreciate his presence at her side. She recognized the contrast between them, she was all artifice and theater, a perfectly appointed façade, and he was as raw and ridiculous as he pleased, offering no excuses and showing no shame. 

They passed by one of her favorite tea rooms, late in the afternoon, and she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. “Should we stop?” she asked, gesturing to the storefront.

Jayne looked through the large window, his eyes taking in the red velvet curtains, the gold trimmed cushions, and the old ladies lunching inside, and snorted. “I don’t think they serve the likes of me.”

“They’ll have to accept you, as you’re my guest.” 

“And they think so highly of you?”

“Of course,” she snapped, because the truth was that she knew exactly what some people in high society really thought of companions. She collected herself. “Why wouldn’t they?”

“Didn’t mean to get ya all bothered.” 

“Not at all.” She smoothed back her hair. “I’m going in. You’re welcome to join me. If you’d rather stand out here in the street, that’s your choice.” She turned from him, but he grabbed the top of her arm before she could step towards the door. He’d never touched her before. His hand was what she would have expected, heavy and rough, and when she said, “Let go of me,” she wondered if he could understand why he needed to step back and create space between their bodies.

“Beg pardon,” he said, and his hand fell away from her. 

She suddenly felt very small, very alone. “It’s alright. You just startled me.” His eyes were fixed on the ground. She moved closer to him again. “It’s alright,” she repeated. He looked up at her and she did not fake the smile she gave him. 

He grinned back. “What are you looking for, anyway? You want some fun?” 

“I was hoping for a meal, not entertainment.”

“Yeah, well, I know a better place, not far from here.”

“A tea room?”

“A saloon.” 

“You expect me to eat at a saloon?”

He laughed at her grimace. “Honey, man my size has to eat a lot of food. Now, true, I’ll eat whatever I’m offered, but that doesn’t mean I don’t recognize a shiny sirloin when it’s put on the plate in front of me. Trust me, the cook in the kitchen? Can’t keep a job at any fancy restaurant, too hot-tempered and quick to pull his piece for that, but he’ll make you a meal you won’t forget.”

“In a good way?”

“Of course. Trust ole Jayne. He won’t steer you wrong.”

“Famous last words,” Inara muttered. 

“Come on, girl, where’s your curiosity? Here I am, offering to show you a place you ain’t never been before. Rest of this day’s been a mind-killing bore, admit it. Least this way you get an adventure out of your trip to town.” 

“You know what Mae West said?”

“Course I do, shoulda got that tattooed on my arm as my motto. Always pick the sin you ain’t tried before.”

“Something like that, yes.” 

“So what do you say?”

“Lead the way.”

“That’s my girl!” he hollered. 

Inara put her finger to her lips. “Shhh.”

“Sorry, ma’am.” He shifted the bags of her purchases from one shoulder to the other. “I think we best send your things along home, first.”

“You’re right.” 

“I’ll take these to the driver.”

“Tell him to take them home right away, please.”

“And to return for us?”

“No.” She knew that most of Atherton’s employees were wary of him, if not actually frightened, and she didn’t want word of this outing getting back to him. “We’ll hire a cab for the way back, if we need one.”

“Fine by me.” He tipped his hat at her and walked off, his long strides taking him quickly away.

 

“Malcolm Reynolds?”

Jayne’s mouth fell open and he nearly dropped his cigar. “You know each other?”

“Certainly. One of my clients threatened to have him arrested after a con he pulled.”

Mal frowned. “Now hold on, there. I provided the goods he wanted, in prime condition, and he tried to cheat me on the payment. That makes him the scoundrel.”

“Those goods were stolen!”

“He knew that! It only became a problem when he decided he wanted to cheat me. That was no moral imperative, sweetheart, that was just his excuse.” She could feel her temper flaring, just as it always had when she’d encountered him back then. He had that sort of attitude that made her feel disrespected, even though she could never say exactly why. She stood taller, prepared herself to continue arguing, but, before she could begin, his eyes shifted away from her and lit up. “Hey, buddy!” he called out, crouching down and extending his arms so the child who’d just appeared at the doorway could run into them. Mal scooped the boy up and hugged him, smacking a kiss against his cheek. “Where’s your mom?”

“Right here, Captain.” At the sound of his mother’s voice, the boy squirmed in Mal’s arms. Mal carefully lowered him back down so that he could go to his mother and reach for her hand. 

“This is Zoe,” Mal said, tilting his head to indicate the beautiful woman approaching them, “my far, far better half.”

“So you keep saying,” Zoe said, reaching their group. 

“Oh, believe me, darlin, I know my value.” He leaned in and kissed her. When they parted, he still kept his arm around her waist. “And yours.”

Zoe put her hand out to Inara. “I don’t think we’ve met.”

“Hello.” Inara took her hand. “I’m Inara.”

“Nice to meet you.” Zoe smiled, clear and easy, without doubt or suspicion, and that made Inara admire her instantly. 

“What kind of hello you got for me?” Jayne said, testy at being ignored for so long.

Zoe let go of Inara’s hand and patted Jayne’s cheek. “How’s my big baby?” she sing-songed.

“I’m your baby,” the boy insisted, and stomped his feet in indignation when the grown-ups laughed. 

Zoe bent down to pick him up and nuzzle at his plump cheeks. “Of course you are,” she comforted. 

Mal shook his head. “9 times out of ten, kid won’t do a gorram thing we say, thinks he knows best, ignores what we tell him, but let Zoe pay a moment’s attention to someone else, and you’ll see what really matters to him.”

“Just like his daddy,” Jayne said, and winked at Zoe. 

“Just like his daddy,” Mal echoed.

Inara realized in that moment that the prickly emotion traveling through her was envy, not irritation. “Can I get a drink?” she said.

 

She stumbled and he caught her arm. 

“I can’t go back like this,” she realized. “If anyone sees me, if they tell Atherton-”

“I know. You just sit down, I’ll take care of this.” He called out to Mal. “Sheets clean in the spare room?”

“Should be.” 

He led her upstairs into the apartment where Mal and Zoe were staying while they ran the establishment. In the back was a small room, brightly lit by the setting sun. Inara held her hand up to shade her eyes and Jayne, noticing, closed the curtains. After he finished, she beckoned to him. “Come here.” When he reached her, he put his arms around her and led her to the bed. “Ok,” she said, “yes, if that’s what you want.” 

“You should lie down,” Jayne said. “Rest.” 

She slumped against the headboard, gazed up at him. Her sight blurred, but he looked good, too good, “Good enough to eat,” she said, and laughed. 

He shook his head at her. “You’re one of those- changeable drunks, aren’tcha?”

“Changeable?” She closed her eyes so he’d stop doubling in front of her. “What does that mean?”

“First you feel one thing and then you feel another.”

“I’m always that way.”

“Yeah, well, it don’t show but when you’re drunk.”

She cracked her eyes open. This was not going how she’d expected. Didn’t he understand what his role was in all of this? Didn’t he get that she needed as big a diversion as possible from Mal and Zoe’s domestic bliss? She slid down on the mattress, curled up on her side, and lay her hand over the empty space beside her. “Be here,” she said. “Don’t you want to be here?” 

“Yeah, but-”

“Do you often turn down a free go with a companion?”

He shook his head. “I don’t turn down an offer like this, typically, no.”

“Then why aren’t you on top of me?”

He laughed at her. “You’re drunk.”

“So?”

“Ms. Serra, I may be a roughneck, but I know better than to believe what anyone says when they’ve had too many.”

She beckoned for him, again, and, as he always had before, he went where she asked, he even bent down, over her, so he could hear her next order. She reached her hand up to press against his cheek, stroked her fingertips over his stubble. “I am drunk,” she said, “but not so drunk that I can’t say for sure what I want.”

He gently drew her hand away. “You rest for a while,” he said, “and, if you want to resume this conversation after that, well, I’ll be a lucky bastard.”

“And you’ll fuck me then?” She pouted.

“Hard.” He flicked a thumb over her nipple. “That’s a promise.” He smacked the side of her ass. “Now get some rest, naughty.”

“You’ll stay here?” she asked. It suddenly seemed very important not to be alone. “I mean, in case I need anything?”

“I ain’t goin anywhere,” he said, and took a seat in the corner chair. 

 

She woke up disoriented and blinked her eyes as many times as it took for her vision to clear and for her to be sure that, yes, she was back at Atherton’s, in her own quarters, in her own bed. “Jayne?” she murmured, and the man appeared in the open doorway. “You moved me.”

“Had no choice, Ms. Serra, the guards at the gate would’ve noticed if we hadn’t returned by seven.”

“You didn’t let anyone see me?”

“Course not, covered you with a blanket in the back seat of the cab, told everyone you’d taken sick while in town.”

She nodded. “Good, and true enough, I suppose. Thank you.” He stepped forward, holding a glass out to her. She took it from him and sipped without asking what it was. It was fresh juice, diluted with water. She tasted pineapple, guava. She drank it all without stopping, and sighed when she was finished. “That was delicious.”

“How do you feel?”

“I’m a little tired,” she said, “but the room doesn’t spin anymore, so-”

He smiled. “That’s an improvement, huh?” He sat down beside her and she leaned into him, rested her head against his chest and let him hold her up, substituted his strength for her own. After a moment like that she noticed smears of color on his white shirt. She pulled back. “What’s wrong?” he asked, immediately letting her go. 

She touched her mouth. “My make up’s still on,” she said. “I stained your clothing.” 

He didn’t even bother to look. “No worries.” He arranged her carefully, resting her against the headboard. “I’ll be right back. Just you hold on.” He returned with a warm, wet washcloth and handed it to her. “Don’t know why you wear it, anyway. Look just fine on your own.”

“Atherton expects me to appear a certain way.” She wiped the lipstick from her mouth and the blush from her cheeks with one side of the wash cloth, and the shadow from her eyes with the other. “God gives them one face and they make themselves another,” she said, inspecting the cloth after she was done.

“What’s that mean?”

“I’m not sure. I read it once, or heard it. It just drifted into my mind.” She crumpled the cloth and got up from the bed to drop it in the laundry basket in the dressing room. She looked pale to herself, in the mirror, but still pretty. 

“All better?” Jayne asked, when she returned. He was sitting on the side of the bed. 

She stood in front of him, in between his splayed knees. “My feet hurt.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You should be.” 

“What’s it got to do with me?”

She pointed down. “You let me fall asleep in my boots.”

He grinned up at her. “So how can I make it up to you?”

She lay down on her back on the bed, lifted herself up on her elbows, and stretched her legs out in front of her. “Take them off me,” she ordered.

They were patent leather boots, that reached all the way above her knees in candy apple red, with a thin heel and onyx buttons carved into lotus flowers running up the side. He undid the buttons carefully, beginning at her ankles, and the slow crawl of his fingers up, up, up her leg felt so good. When his hands reached the top button of the second boot, she grabbed at his fingers, afraid that, if he dared to move higher, she wouldn’t stop him. “You alright?” he asked. 

She liked his steady voice. “Jayne, you must promise me. Swear to me that you won’t tell Atherton, or anyone else, about today.” 

He pressed a hand to his heart. “Don’t you worry, Ms. Serra. I work for you, not for him.”

“He doesn’t ask you to spy on me?” She’d always assumed that was one of his duties.

He frowned. “That’s Cara’s job.”

“Cara? I don’t believe it.” Cara was her attendant and, more importantly, she’d considered her a friend. “Why would she do that to me?”

“She’s a hellcat. She’ll do anything to get in his bed.”

“She’ll do or she’s done?” 

Jayne undid the last button on the boot and pulled it off of her. “I had a woman like you, I wouldn’t even look at another,” he swore, and she reached up to interlace her fingers around the back of his neck. Her touch was all the invitation he needed, he held her face between his huge hands and kissed her like he wanted to leave her breathless. She fell back on the bed as he ran his hands up the insides of her thighs, taking hold of her thong and drawing it down her legs and off her body. He brought the scrap of fabric up to his face for a moment, took a deep inhale, then tossed it behind him. “You want I should help you out of that dress?” 

She nodded, rolled onto her belly. “It unfastens in the back.” He leaned over her, swept her hair away from her cheek before brushing his lips across her flushed face. His deft hands undid each hook and she shivered as the cool air of the room reached more and more of her skin.

“Warm you right back up,” he promised. Once he’d stripped her, he lay the dress on the back of the nearest chair, and she appreciated that he didn’t just drop it to the floor or leave it on the bed where its satin would be wrinkled beneath their bodies. He drew a hand down the center of her, beginning at the crown of her head and trailing along her spine to tease the cleft of her ass and then lower still to press two fingers between her swollen lips and make her gasp. When he pulled his fingers away, she could hear him slurping on them, getting every last drop of her taste. “Want this sweet pussy on my face,” he growled. “Want you to ride my face and then my dick.” He flopped down on the bed beside her. “What do you say, girl? Ain’t it your turn to take care of me?”

Inara raised herself to her knees and straddled his hips. “Let me see what I can do.”

 

She was content to stay there, in bed, curled on her side, his front flush against her back for as long as they could, pretending the world outside this room was different, offered both of them the new chances they deserved, but nothing seemed to keep him silent for long. “So I take it you once had a fondness for ole Mal?” he said.

“Why do you say that?”

“Like I told you, I may be a roughneck, but I know what’s what. I saw the way you looked at him, how seeing him and his family made you need a drink.” He rubbed his hand up and down the outside of her thigh. “Made you need company.” He kissed her shoulder, traced a shape there with the tip of his tongue. “Hope I gave you a good enough distraction.”

She wanted to say, ‘yes, and better than that’, such simple words, but they stuck in her throat. “Thank you,” was all she could manage. She reached her hand out to check her watch, which lay on the bedside table. “Nearly one,” she said. “Is that your curfew?”

“I’m afraid so, darlin.” He sighed and rolled away from her, scrubbing his hands over his face before he got out of bed and gathered his clothes. 

She watched him as he dressed, thinking back on what Mal and Zoe had told them, that they’d finally raised enough money to buy the part they needed to fix their ship and return to the skies. “You want to go with them, don’t you?”

He paused in buttoning his shirt. “Can’t say for certain,” he said, eyes fixed on his hands.

“Look at me.” He did, hesitantly. “You do.” She held up a hand before he could protest. “It’s alright. You should. I think it’s- I think you’re lucky.”

“Now why would you say that?”

“You’ve got your friends, you’re going to have your freedom- what else is there?”

He sat down again at the side of the bed. “Nara, you should go with us, too. I’m not gonna lie to you, it ain’t gonna be what you’re used to.” He grinned. “You might have to put your silks and jewels away.”

She smiled back at him. “What about the boots?”

“Hell, those I think you should wear all the time.”

“They’re not much good for walking.”

“I’ll gladly carry you. You just tell me where you want to go.”

She shook her head. It was fun, to joke and imagine, but- “I still have almost a year on my contract.”

“You wouldn’t be the first fugitive we traveled with.”

“Really?”

“Girl, the stories I have to tell you-”

Temptation nestled up beside her but she could resist it. “No. No. I wouldn’t do that to you all, and I can’t do it to myself. I signed on, willingly, and I will finish this job.”

“And then?”

She pushed herself up to sitting, not bothering to cover her bare body. “I don’t know.”

“Well, when you decide, you send us a wave to let us know.”

“I think this is the longest conversation we’ve ever had where you managed to look me only in the eyes.”

“So let me make up for that.” Jayne pulled the sheet away from her hips and legs and she arched under his gaze, gave into his admiration as she had to his touch. “Being a companion, it ain’t a fair business proposition for you.”

“Why do you say that?”

“No amount of coin could ever be what you’re worth.”

His stare had reached her face again. “You better go,” she murmured, feeling the charge between them, knowing they were just a breath away from another round. 

“Yeah,” Jayne said, grabbing his hat from the bedpost and placing it on his head. 

“But I’ll see you soon?” she said, as he began to pull the door shut behind him.

He turned back towards her, touched the brim of his hat in a salute. “Count on it.”


End file.
